Category Archives: Episode VIII

The Force Is Back In Kerry As Star Wars Crew Returns

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Via Rte.ie:

Having filmed on Sceilg Mhichíl over the past two years, Disney Lucasfilm has now selected Ceann Sibéal at the western tip of the Dingle Peninsula as a location for the next Star Wars movie.

Contractors have already arrived on the Dingle Peninsula and are currently installing a 1.5km metal roadway on the slopes of Ceann Sibéal. It’s understood the roadway will facilitate the transport of gear and crew to the summit for filming on Star Wars: Episode VIII.

Star Wars: Episode VIII is directed by Rian Johnson and will see the return of Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson alongside The Force Awakens co-stars Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley and John Boyega. New cast members include Benicio Del Toro, Laura Dern and Kelly Marie Tran.

The Irish Film Board says it is not in a position to publicly discuss its dealings with individual film companies. However, it’s understood locally that filming will take place over a two-week period in the middle of May. Star Wars: Episode VIII is due for release on December 15, 2017.

Local landowners have entered into access agreements with the film company. A number of hotels and self-catering accommodation have already been booked for the period in question.

Click below to read the full article.

EPISODE 8’S DAISY RIDLEY SAYS ‘LUKE IS SO COOL IN THIS’

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Via Ign.com:

Daisy Ridley is really excited about Star Wars: Episode VIII. Ridley—who plays Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens—says working with Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) on the film has been “amazing.”

“Me and Mark have been rehearsing a lot, and it’s really amazing,” Ridley told MTV News on the Oscars red carpet Sunday. “When we went back to Skellig [Michael, the Irish island used for Luke’s hideaway] to do the opening of [Episode] VIII, it was crazy doing the same scene with a different crew of people.”

She mentioned the film isn’t just two hours of Rey and Luke staring at each other, but she is “very excited to be doing the rest of the stuff.”

“It’s such a good story,” Ridley said. “Seriously. Luke is so cool in this one. Really.”

Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: Episode VIII began filming earlier this year. The film’s official production announcement was released on February 15, implying that the film will begin right where The Force Awakens ended. It was also announced Laura Dern, Benicio del Toro, and Kelly Marie Tran have officially joined the cast.

Star Wars: Episode VIII is set to hit theaters on December 15, 2017.

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Star Wars To Be Protected By ‘drone army’ During Episode VIII Filming

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Via Bbc.co.uk:

Drones are going to be used to protect the secrecy of filming for Star Wars: Episode VIII in Croatia next month.

They’ll reportedly be used to intercept other “uninvited” drones which have been sent in to photograph and record scenes from the new movie.
Local website, Mos Croatia, says Disney is also recruiting 600 guards to make sure nobody bothers the actors while they’re filming scenes.
Residents in Dubrovnik have been told that filming will start on 9 March.
In 2014, scenes being filmed for Star Wars: The Force Awakens at Greenham Common in London were shot by drones and uploaded to social media.

Motherboard reported that Pinewood had ordered a drone defence shield system to stop leaks on set two years ago.

It would have provided advance warning of helicopters and drones used by paparazzi photographers and media.

But suppliers said that the order never went through because an export application hadn’t been approved in America.

Click below to read the full article.

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Star Wars Episode 8 Working Title Revealed

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Via Gamespot.com:

They might change it.

The working title of Star Wars Episode 8 has been revealed. While it will be some time before we learn of the film’s official name, we now know that it has a temporary title of Space Bear. Carrie Fisher revealed all when she posted the following picture to Twitter:

Space Bear follows in the tradition of strange titles for other Star Wars films during production. The Force Awakens was known as Foodies while it was shooting, and Return of the Jedi was famously filmed under the title of Blue Harvest.

Principal photography on Episode 8 officially began last week. The news was revealed via a short video that showed director Rian Johnson on set with stars Daisy Ridley and Mark Hamill. It was also announced that Sicario’s Benicio Del Toro and Jurassic Park star Laura Dern had joined the cast.

The movie is currently shooting in London, and will then move to Croatia for location work. According to Making Star Wars, the Croatian shoot will make use of drones and 600 guards to ensure that the production is kept hidden from the public.

Star Wars Episode 8 arrives in cinemas on December 15, 2017. It also stars Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, and Andy Serkis.

 

Benicio Del Toro and Laura Dern Join Star Wars: Episode VIII

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Via Wired.com:

WE MAY HAVE to wait a little bit longer for Star Wars: Episode VIII—last month Disney pushed the release date from next spring to December 2017—but that delay only means we’ll have more time to snap up every piece of footage and news Lucasfilm releases.

Today’s tidbit? Episode VIII, which is being directed by Rian Johnson, has added Benicio Del Toro, Laura Dern, and newcomer Kelly Marie Tran to its cast in as-yet-unknown parts. Del Toro most recently appeared in Denis Villeneuve’s drug-war drama Sicario and also played The Collector in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Dern’s recent highlights include Wild and Mike White’s short-lived but much-beloved HBO series Enlightened. The returning cast also lists Gwendoline Christie and Lupita Nyong’o, so fans of their characters from The Force Awakens need not worry about their uncertain fates.

Along with the casting announcement, Lucasfilm also released a short clip teasing the start of filming for Episode VIII. In the new footage, we see that the first day on set involved shooting scenes that happened right after the closing moments of J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens. (Spoiler alert!) It also has an updated, spaced-out version of a very familiar John Williams theme song, which might be the coolest part.

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Episode VIII Has Started Filming

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Via Ew.com:

Filmmaker Rian Johnson is already making a few special modifications to the Star Wars universe. The director (best known for Brick and Looper) has started rolling cameras on Star Wars: Episode VIII, according to Disney CEO Bob Iger.

The galactic sequel was set to begin in January, but principal photography was pushed back a few weeks around the same time the movie’s release was shifted from May 2017 to December of that year.

Iger provided updates on the studio’s ever-expanding Star Wars universe during The Walt Disney Co.’s quarterly earnings call, touting the gargantuan financial success of the The Force Awakens. It is only the third film in history to collect more than $2 billion at the global box office, and the only domestic release to collect more than $900 million. In addition, he said it earned more than $3 billion globally in consumer products.

Iger said the company had a simple strategy for the future of Star Wars: don’t lose sight of what sold all those tickets and merchandise.

“There is no better way to propel this franchise into the future than producing quality products,” he said. “Filming of Star Wars: Episode VIII, the next chapter of the legendary saga, has just commenced and it will be in theaters December 2017. And production of Episode IX, a 2019 release, has also begun.”

That third film in the franchise will be directed by Jurassic World and Safety Not Guaranteed filmmaker Colin Trevorrow. Exactly what Iger meant when he said production had begun is unclear, given how far off that movie is — and how much Lucasfilm still has to deliver before that.

“Filming of Rogue One is virtually completed and we absolutely love what we’ve seen so far,” he said, of the heist story about Rebel plans to steal the blueprints for the original Death Star. (The film, directed by Godzilla’s Gareth Edwards, will be released Dec. 16.) “This is the first of a set of planned stand-alone stories and we’re already in preproduction on our next one, for release in May of 2018.”

That one would be the announced “young Han Solo” movie, which The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller are making, based on a script by Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jon Kasdan. While Disney has been shifting Star Wars release dates from spring to the winter holidays, Iger’s announcement that young Han Solo would remain in May, at least for now, was a surprise.

Finally, Iger confirmed that the company planned to break ground later this year on new Star Wars attractions at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, and Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

If they start digging a trench with a giant cannon in the center, we’ll know Disney’s plans for world domination have gone too far.

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More on ROGUE ONE and EPISODE VIII from StarWars.com

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The official site, StarWars.com, just posted the latest news with more details:

This morning at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, across the street from Lucasfilm, Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger hosted a shareholder meeting where he announced news regarding the first Star Wars stand-alone movie as well as Star Wars: Episode VIII.

Rogue One is the title for the first film in a unique series of big-screen adventures that explores the characters and events beyond the core Star Wars saga. Rogue One will be directed by Gareth Edwards (Monsters, Godzilla) and written by Oscar nominee Chris Weitz (Cinderella, About a Boy, Antz). The first actress cast is Felicity Jones, who garnered an Academy Award nomination and critical acclaim for her performance in The Theory of Everything. The idea for the story of Rogue One came from John Knoll, an Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor and chief creative officer at Industrial Light & Magic. He will executive produce along with Simon Emanuel (The Dark Knight Rises, Fast & Furious 6) and Jason McGatlin (Tintin, War of the Worlds). Kathleen Kennedy and Tony To (Band of Brothers, The Pacific) are on board to produce and John Swartz (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) will co-produce. The film starts shooting this summer in London and is due for release on December 16, 2016.

In addition, Iger confirmed that Rian Johnson will write and direct Star Wars: Episode VIII. The film, which continues the saga after the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is set for release on May 26, 2017 — forty years and a day after the release of Star Wars: A New Hope in 1977. Johnson is widely considered one of cinema’s most gifted young filmmakers, having directed the modern sci-fi classic, Looper, as well as Brick and The Brothers Bloom. He was also behind the camera for three episodes of the critically-acclaimed TV series Breaking Bad, including “Ozymandias,” which series creator Vince Gilligan named as the best installment of the show. Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman, producer of Looper, Don Jon, Brick, and The Brothers Bloom, are on board to produce.

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Episode VIII Gets Release Date and Spinoff Movie Called ‘Rogue One’

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Via Variety.com:

Disney and Lucasfilm have announced details of the upcoming “Stars Wars” films at its annual shareholders meeting in San Francisco.

Rian Johnson has also been confirmed to write and direct Star Wars: Episode VIII, which will hit theaters May 26, 2017.

Gareth Edwards upcoming standalone film, starring Felicity Jones, will be called “Rogue One.” The movie starts filming in London this summer and opens Dec. 16, 2016.

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Episode VII Resumes shooting after Harrison Ford injury

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Via EW.com:

Star Wars: Episode VII has officially resumed shooting at Pinewood Studios outside of London after taking a brief hiatus due to the on-set accident that broke Harrison Ford’s leg on June 12. Since his character is a major part of the Episode VII story, this caused massive upheaval for the film schedule, which had to be reshuffled in the midst of production while the 72-year-old star recuperated.

As part of that reorganization, photography was placed on hold for two weeks this month, but the entire cast and crew returned to the U.K. this week and the film is officially going, well … full Force, according to sources close to the project.

Despite dire predictions that Ford’s injury would sidetrack him (and the movie) for as much as six months, the athletic actor proved to be far more resilient and was spotted back on his feet (sporting a hands-free leg crutch) just a few weeks after the accident, in which part of the set of the Millennium Falcon fell and struck him, fracturing the bone in his left leg.

Even more recently, he walked the red carpet for The Expendables 3, waving and smiling at photographers while strolling by with a barely perceptible limp. He also made an ALS ice bucket challenge, uploaded six days ago, which shows him in shorts and sneakers, with no evidence of leg atrophy or even a support cast. His rep told EW today that he hasn’t started shooting his own scenes yet, but will be soon.

Throughout Ford’s recovery, Lucasfilm and parent company The Walt Disney Co. have insisted that the Dec. 18, 2015 release date of the movie would not need to be altered. Photography is set to continue until mid-fall, and many cast members have continued to work this summer on scenes that haven’t required Ford’s presence.

Boba Fett lives! Fett: 1 Sarlacc: 0

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Boba Fett escapes his encounter with the Sarlacc Pit in ROTJ via Wookieepedia

Boba Fett escapes his encounter with the Sarlacc Pit in ROTJ via Wookieepedia

 

Boba Fett has arguably been one of the most favorite characters of ‘Star Wars’ fans since he first appeared in the lackluster ‘Star Wars Holiday Special.’ Hardcore fans know that Fett’s journey didn’t end with him falling in the Sarlacc pit in ‘Return of the Jedi.’ He would go on to become an integral part of the ‘Star Wars’ expanded universe. While he has appeared in a plethora of material in the expanded universe, there was always a small hint of doubt that he actually lived on. ‘Star Wars’ used to be broken into different levels of canon, and Fett’s adventures after ‘Return of the Jedi’ were never set in stone. Then, earlier this year, the expanded universe rebooted and was labeled “Legends.” This set the hundreds of novels, comic books, and other materiel in an “alternate universe” of sorts; and sealed the fate of many beloved characters.

 

Flash forward to today. J.W. Rinzler, a ‘Star Wars’ historian and writer known for his many books that chronicle the history of the franchise, conducted an “Ask Me Anything” session on social media site, Reddit. Rinzler was asked point-blank whether Boba Fett survived his apparent demise in ‘Return of the Jedi.’ His reply brings hope to the ‘Star Wars’ universe. “Yes, he does,” Rinzler stated, “I have been in meetings with George where he confirms that Fett survived. If it comes from George then it’s true!”

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Leaked Star Wars Episode VII Filmset Footage???

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No it’s not, but it’s one of the best fan films we’ve ever seen! It’s via  Frank Wunderlich on YouTube. He writes:

“Looks like the Story of Star Wars plays on Earth too in the next Episode. I took these pictures on my Flight back from the States to Germany at the Frankfurt Airport. Seems like the biggest german airport plays a key role as an imperial starport in the new episode — there have just been imperial forces at the scene.  Maybe the Rebelboys hide in Berlin… :-D”

Check it out!